


Things To Be Grateful For

by Kimra



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: 5+1 Things, Fluff, Gentle, Hugs, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:02:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25242094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kimra/pseuds/Kimra
Summary: Steve spends a day walking about and enjoying things he's grateful for.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Comments: 11
Kudos: 45
Collections: Battleship 2020, Battleship 2020 - Yellow Team





	Things To Be Grateful For

**Author's Note:**

  * For [donutsweeper](https://archiveofourown.org/users/donutsweeper/gifts).



**One. People**

Steve takes his time walking through Central Park. There’s a chorus of laughter and life bubbling up around him as he passes picnics and strolling families. The clothes are different, the toys are new, the phones are incomparable, but it’s still the same. Children cry and run, duck and weave, chase pigeons until they launch into the sky in billowing clouds. While the adults watch them, call them to order, bribe them, and some just lay back and rest in the dappled light of a warm spring day, chasing the silence amongst the crowd.

Steve soaks it in at a leisurely pace. Quiet footsteps amongst the crowd, and feels alive.

**Two. Art**

There’s art Steve’s never seen on the walls, thick smears of paint that would have taken weeks to dry, boxes and curves painted with absolute precision, splatters and aberrations in discordant chaos that he tracks with hungry eyes, trying to divine the meaning, the purpose, the method.

The museums of New York are vast, numerous, and full of miniature worlds. Their air conditioning hums quietly and brushes cool air against his skin as he moves from one work to another. Learning what art has become, and wondering where it will go next.

He buys paper and pencils at the little shop and goes back to the park to sketch the world as it is today.

**Three. Books**

Steve rifles through the second-hand goods store’s bookshelves flipping past titles and subject matter with the ease of practice. There are language learning books, photograph books of the 70’s hippie movement, spy novels dog earred and worn, cook books older than he is (he skips those), and things he has to stare at a bit longer to identify.

The old woman at the counter smiles and tally’s up the pile he’s picked out. She undercharges him, again, but he drops some coins in the donation box to make up for it. He’ll read them later, one at a time, and she’ll smile and undercharge him all over again when he goes hunting for something new. There are so many books, so much information, and he doesn’t think he’ll ever tire of reading them all.

**Four. Food**

Steve buys a hotdog bigger than his hand from a street vendor two blocks from his apartment when the daylight’s died down too much for even him to draw by. He asks about the man’s day and there are no other customers nearby so the man obliges. He eats as they talk and buys a pretzel while listening to a story about bad plumbing repairs, and the state of socks in this modern world. He steps away when another customer approaches, wishes the man a good evening and continues on his way. The food tastes like New York, like being a reckless child dirty and grinning while clutching the money he’d worked so hard for.

He buys something else at the next stall, because he can, because he’s still hungry, and because the woman smiles brightly when she spots him and he can afford to.

**Five. Music**

Steve opens his windows and puts a record on. It’s old, it’s outdated, but the crackle of the record as the needle jumps on imperfections on the surface lights up his brain and his body relaxs and sags into the couch. The music sways around him and echoes against the brick walls outside into the neighbourhood. A soft melody to fall asleep too. Steve drift comfortably, belly full of food, sketches and books in his bag, and the sounds of people outside. He feels safe and content.

**Plus. Bucky**

Steve wakes to the quiet latch of the front door, he tenses but recognises the tread of Bucky’s shoes as he comes to join him.

“Have a nice day?” Bucky asks, setting his keys on the little table beside the shield.

“It’s better now,” Steve replies sleepy and pleased.

The smile that curls across Bucky’s lips is all new, “You old smooth talker you,” he teases, but he curls up on the couch next to Steve his body a warm weight against Steve’s side. “Are you being maudlin?” he asks with a nod to the record player.

Steve shakes his head, presses his lips against the crown of Bucky’s head and closes his eyes to hold onto this too. “No, just appreciating the things that make me happy.”

“I better be on that list,” Bucky warns lightly the arm he slips across Steve’s belly squeezing lightly.

“You’re at the top of it. You always have been.” Steve promises.

Content Bucky curls around him, and they both drift off to the sounds of New York outside.


End file.
